DELIGHT, surprise and tears of joy were on the menu at the Yorkshire Evening Post Best of Health Awards presentation lunch.

Ten deserving stars of the health field were honoured at a special event in Leeds yesterday.

They were picked from the hundreds of entries which flooded in after the launch of the first Best of Health Awards in August.

Nominees and supporters gathered at the Hilton Hotel to hear the winners announced.

The audience heard touching stories from patients about why they had put health workers forward, including one who remembered how caring a nurse was when she cared for their family 20 years ago and a carer who has faced huge challenges but never complains.

Peter Charlton, editorial director of Yorkshire Post Newspapers, told the audience: “Everyone nominated for these awards has done something special for someone else, gone above and beyond what was expected of them, and they have done that because they care.

“That is something of which they can all be proud and something we, with these awards, are proud to highlight.”

Clare Frisby, presenter of BBC Look North Breakfast News, hosted the event and presented the winners with their awards.

She told guests: “We’ve been overwhelmed and deeply touched by the stories that we have heard.

“Each and every person and team put forward was worthy of being praised in public.”

There was surprise and delight from the winners when their names were announced, with some being left speechless and many saying they were “gobsmacked”.

Bradford-based Sovereign Health Care sponsored the event and chief executive Russ Piper said they were delighted to be involved.

“It was a great fit for us. The quality of the nominations was very high but the judging process was very robust.

“For anyone to reach even the shortlist stage is a phenomenal achievement.”

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